Following its recent history of tough PR, including its lackluster queso debut and its series of norovirus outbreaks, Chipotle is now recovering from technical difficulties surrounding its free guacamole deal as well as a foodborne illness outbreak that has made 700 patrons to date mysteriously ill. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

In honor of National Avocado Day, the chain announced that it would be giving its famed premium-priced guacamole away for free for customers who ordered meals online or via its app and used the code "AVOCADO" on Tuesday July 31. However many customers were greeted by a "technical difficulties" notification as both its website and app crashed due to the high volume of traffic. While this indicates high enthusiasm for the deal, hungry customers took to social media to report their frustrations:

Following its recent history of tough PR, including its lackluster queso debut and its series of norovirus outbreaks, Chipotle is now recovering from technical difficulties surrounding its free guacamole deal as well as a foodborne illness outbreak that has made 700 patrons to date mysteriously ill. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

In response to the technical difficulties, Chipotle decided to honor the deal for an additional day on Wednesday August 1 to satisfy displeased customers. In a statement, a representative from the chain responded, "Today was a record breaking day for Chipotle! We had an unprecedented increase in new digital customers as a result of the free guac promo in honor of National Avocado Day. Unfortunately, breaking these records also broke the internet, but we are now back up and running."

The high demand should not come as a surprise given Chipotle's recent 7 percent share surge which beat Wall Street estimates. This growth is partially attributed to the decrease in avocado costs, which is perhaps why the company decided to take a chance on a free guacamole promotion.

A chicken burrito, guacamole, bag of tortilla chips, and a drink are arranged for a photograph at a Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. restaurant in El Segundo, California, U.S., on Wednesday, July 25, 2018. Chipotle is scheduled to release earnings figures on July 26. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

Additionally, a Chipotle location in Ohio has reported upwards of 700 cases of foodborne illness of mysterious origins. Initial tests have returned negative results for salmonella, shigella, E. Coli, and norovirus according to Traci Whittaker, spokesperson for the Delaware County Health District. The affected patrons have reportedly been suffering from diarrhea, fever, food poisoning, vomiting, nausea and more.

This is not Chipotle’s only recent snafu. The chain's recent addition of queso was also met with social media backlash, as indicated by RBC Capital Markets' artificial intelligence analysis which indicated that the volume of negative tweets outnumbered the volume of positive tweets in the weeks following the menu item's launch. The surprising failure of the long-demanded menu item could be due in part to a disconnect between Chipotle's mission to serve products made from "real" ingredients and the types of additive-based queso recipes that consumers may unknowingly prefer, e.g., the classic Velveeta and Ro-Tel-based dips. Despite this social media sentiment, the chain's second quarter earnings report similarly attributed its recent growth in part to customers adding queso to their meals.

CHICAGO, IL - AUGUST 10: An IHOP restaurant serves customers on August 10, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. DineEquity, the parent company of Applebee's and IHOP, plans to close up to 160 restaurants in the first quarter of 2018. The announcement helped the stock climb more than 4 percent today. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Despite Chipotle’s tough recent history of publicity, social media and press sentiments aren't the strongest predictor of company performance. Recently IHOP teased the internet by saying that its name would be changing to “IHOB” only to reveal that this new name would only be temporary and stands for “International House of Burgers.” Some internet critics found the brief name change to be a strange departure from the iconic IHOP brand, and the name change sparked a storm of social media responses. Regardless of this chatter, IHOP is reporting that the promotional stunt quadrupled burger sales for the chain due to its ability to for better or worse generate unprecedented awareness for the chain’s new burger offerings.

IHOP President Darren Rebelez explained this surprising performance: "We think it was a huge success... Literally everybody in the world now knows that IHOP is now selling burgers. That was goal No. 1. Goal No. 2 was to actually sell them."

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I am a food and agriculture business writer. My work has been featured in Mashable, The A.V. Club, Culinary Institute of America, SF Chronicle, Yahoo, The Huffington Post and more. I am a MasterChef Top 100 finalist. I created food site Pâté Smith, as well as run music news...